July 24, 2025 • 34 mins
On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Friday 25th of July 2025, The Government's scrapped same day enrolments for general elections, Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb shares his concerns.
Should MPs have to use the public health system? Former Health NZ chair Rob Campbell shares his thoughts.
Single bottles of beer are being sold with the alcohol contents of up to 16%, Grant Hewison from communities against alcohol harm tells Andrew Dickens about the dangers of having such high contents in small cans.
Plus, a Department of Justice official will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell to find out any new information about Jeffrey Epstein case, US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The issues, the interviews and the insight. Andrew Dickens on
EARLI edition with ex Pole Insulation, keeping Kiwi Holmes warm
and try this winter news talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
They'd be welcome onrning to you on this very cold
morning minus five at an airport minus three in Masterton
right now, I'm Andrew Dickens in for Ryan Bridge, who's
just taking a long weekend. Coming up over the next hour.
Should government ministers be forced to pause their private health
insurance and use the public system? Some doctors think so.
They've written an open letter. What does the Chair of
(00:32):
Health New Zealand think That story? In just minutes new
high strength beers of flooding the market? Are they any good?
Or are they doing bad? That story in fifteen we've
got all the news from America with Mitch mccam including
the latest and the Epstein saga and the new electoral rules.
Are they undemocratic? Labour think so, And we're going to
talk to their spokesperson just before six. We'll go right
(00:53):
around the country with our reporters and we'll have news
as it breaks and you can have your say ye
saying we at texts. The number is ninety ten two
ninety two is small charge applies at seven after five
the agenda, Well, it's Friday, the twenty fifth of July.
You made it first to the da situation in Gaza.
Now more than one hundred international aid organizations have warned
(01:15):
of mass starvation, and they all blame Israel. The UN
says it has six thousand trucks worth of aid waiting
to enter. A news organizations say even their journalists on
the ground are unable to feed themselves. A doctor in
Gaza says Palestinians are not close to famine. They're living it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Path to aired is path today it's a one way ticket.
I see the injured people who come to the hospital
in big numbers. We sometimes receive up to fifty injury
to day. We don't have any time to close our
eyes and have some rare.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To America, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting Trump
was told in May that he was among hundreds of
names mentioned in Justice Department documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
The White House is calling it a fake news story.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
The President has made it clear that he wanted these
documents to be declassified. He wanted the American people to
see the truth. And now he wants those who perpetuated
these lies in this scandal to be held accountable, and.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
It puts even more pressure on Trump to release the files.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
It's different from other controversies he spaced during his political
career because, for the first time since he's gotten involved
in politics over the last decade, we have seen that
his conservative nagabase appears to be spluntering.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Meanwhile, there's legal action between Donald Trump and the Wall
Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal owned by Rupert Murdoch.
So mates of fighting and now here's a nice story.
A Canadian tourism man has called come hug it out
has gone viral. The video from Quebec's Eastern Township shows
a Canadian hotel worker giving an American tourist a big
(02:52):
Canadian hug, a friendly nudge to call off the tension
after months of tariffs and taunts between the US and Canada.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
ESK spooky.
Speaker 7 (03:02):
Sorry, I don't speak French.
Speaker 8 (03:03):
I'm just visiting.
Speaker 9 (03:04):
Well, then, welcome to Canada's eastern townships.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Where are you visiting from.
Speaker 7 (03:09):
I'm American, ah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Doki, hey, and the numbers don't lie between the United
States and Canada. US travel to Canada by car is
down eleven percent, and Canadians heading south down are whopping
thirty three percent. It's ten out of five.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Get ahead of the headlines on early edition with Andrew
Dickins and x Fole Insulation keeping Kiwi homes warm and dry.
This winter news talks at me.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So is this the week that the Nikola Willis bubble burst?
The Finance Minister was widely criticized this week as being ineffectual.
After the much hyped butter summit with Miles Hurl from
fon Terra, nothing happened other than Miles yesterday telling us
exactly why butter is high, which was something we already knew. Meanwhile,
the Minister doubled down in the house at question time,
(03:57):
getting more and more historyonic, leading some to compare her
answers to Labour's questions as the sound of a bellowing
farm animal with just as much hot air. Mike Hosky
on The Breakfast Show Had Fun criticized her continual over
hyping of what she can achieve with consumer prices, noting
that she's doing the same with the supermarket issue and
comparing her to de Cinder Addurn, who remember told us
(04:18):
once upon a time that petrol companies were fleecing us. Meanwhile,
the country is locked into a morderal and economic state,
possibly due to excessive austerity. In the pursuit of lower
debt levels, she's prune the bureaucracy, which is no bad thing,
but she also turned off government funding of critical work,
negatively impacting many sectors, including construction. I'll tell you a
(04:38):
story about construction in a few moments. And in canceling
the fairies, she may have saved us a big bill now,
but it threatens to be an even bigger bill later.
Nikola Willis may be a factor in National's poor performance
in the polls as the recession drags on, because we
all know any election the most important issue is the economy, stupid,
(05:00):
and she's the one running the economy. And with such
a long list of over egged performative politics, you start
to wonder if the Prime Minister might be starting to
look to the subs bench because with all the negative
press coming her way, she may have cooked her slightly
overinflated goose. And Nichola Willis will be in conversation with
Mike Hoskin, which should be very entertaining after six o'clock
(05:21):
this morning. Right here on News Talks ATB. It's twelve after.
Speaker 10 (05:24):
Five News TALKSB.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All right, so as some health workers set an open letter,
don't you love an open letter? Not really, but they
set an open letter and they reckon that politicians should
use the public health system and not their private insurance
so that they can really experience what it's really really like.
So is this a good idea? Is this a stunt?
What does the Chair of Health New Zealand, Rob Campbell
(05:48):
think about it? And would he only use a public system?
I will find out all his former chair of course,
we'll find this out in just a few moments time.
Right here on News Talks ATB.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Views and Views you Trust to start your day. It's
early edition with Andrew Dickins at expol Insulation keeping Kiwi
Holmes warm and dry this winter News Talks d B.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, it's fourteen out to five. Should MPs have to
use the public health system? That is a challenge from
a group of health workers who are calling out politicians
saying they should have to rely on the systems that
they reside over so they can personally experience the consequences
of any decision they make. So Rob Campbell is the
former chair of Tafata Order Health New Zealand, and he
(06:34):
comes to the program. Now good On is here. Rob,
thank you once again for getting up early for.
Speaker 8 (06:37):
Us, Marina Andrew, it's not early for some of this is.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Good on you. Is it fair? Is it fair to
force MPs or to ask MPs to use the public
health system?
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Look at they're not going to do it anymore than
they're going to turn down their next pay rise. But
the call that's been made, I think does highlight that
as d MPs, but many people do live in a
bit of a cocoon from the major problems of our
public health system because they've been able to opt out
to a large extent through the insurance that they hold.
(07:12):
About nearly half of New Zealanders do hold health insurance,
so it's no surprise that many MPs do. So it
highlights the fact that if you don't have the problem,
you probably are not going to effectively deal with the problem.
So I support the call to that extent. Is it practical,
don't think so, But it highlights the point that people
are living in a cocoon and most people, still a
(07:35):
slight majority I believe, are fully reliant on the public system.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, did the open letter writers not go far enough?
You know, because senior bureaucrats in the public service system,
should they also have been asked to rely solely on
the public system since they are making decisions? Should the
opposition also been included in their call?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
Oh? Look, I think it's certainly the call should have been,
and I believe it was direct to do all MPs.
And it made me think, I know, when I was
on to FIGHTO or how many of the senior staff
or other directors held health insurance, because I'd be very
disappointed if they did. But when I think about it,
it's quite possible they did. And there's no question that
your own circumstance does alter your viewers things. So I
(08:15):
think that that point is very valid and it's a
problem for the public health, for the public health system. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
In fact, that was my next question into people at
health New Zealand use private healthcare. You can't really answer it,
but I'm pretty sure they did. So Look, look, here's
the thing. The private system works in conjunction with the
public system, and together they confront the problems that are
facing New Zealanders in terms of their health care. The
private care system is beneficial. Should it be demonized.
Speaker 8 (08:44):
Like this, there's no point in demonizing it. I fully
understand I don't have health insurance, I should say, but
I fully understand why many people do and for a
long time a large part of their health service. In fact,
even right from the GP, we have a privatized health
service system. We don't have a fully public system. We
(09:04):
may think we want one, but we don't have it,
and so the private system is an important part of it.
But I think one of the issues we've got and
using it at the moment is that it doesn't help
to demonize the public system. The public system does a
huge number of good things, which the health workers have
made this call fully understand, and many people get fantastic
service from the public system. So it's public system actually
(09:27):
needs some love rather than punishment. And I think if
I was the boss of a health insurance company, every
time to Far to Wara got attacked or the public
health system got attacked, either think that's good. That's another
few people coming in the front door of my business.
So we do have to be careful about that. We
don't want to demonize either side of it. But the
truth is, if you're making big decisions for something like
(09:50):
a public health system, and you yourself are insulated from it,
it will impact your decision making. There's no way it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You had to work with these people. You had to
work with these senior ministers. Are they, as these open
letter writers say, out of touch with just how dire
the situation is in the health system is? Are they
in fact insulated perform it or did they understand?
Speaker 8 (10:09):
Oh, look, there's no question that they're insulated from it
by the very nature of their job, the way they
do their job, what they've paid, what they're surrounded by,
the advice that they've got in their ears all the time.
There's no question that they're isolated. Then it is a
problem for our representative democracy. When people are elected. On
the day they're elected, they probably do represent some part
(10:30):
of the electorate, but pretty quickly once they get into
that hot ass atmosphere down there in Wellington, they do
lose touch. There's no question of it.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Rob, I thank you for your time. There's Rob Campbell,
the former Health New Zealand chair. By the way, Simeon
Brown says he doesn't have private health insurance. It's a
bit of a witch hunt, really.
Speaker 11 (10:50):
Have you got it?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Have you not got it? What have you got? Strange? Now,
when I was living in France, there was a beer
there called the Diablow Beer, and beer had a twelve
percent alcohol level. So if you had one, you were
pretty happy. If you had two, you were pretty squiffy.
And if you had three, I tell you you were hallucinating.
(11:11):
Something about high strength to beer, even if it's the
same strength as wine. Somehow, maybe it's the bubbles. I
don't know, it gets into your brain. It's pretty heavy stuff.
Turns out that we've got a whole lot of these big,
old high alcohol level beers in New Zealand right now,
and they're going off and kids are buying them. So
is this a problem and why is it a problem.
We'll have that story for your next here on News
Talks at B. It is five twenty.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Andrew Dickens on early edition with ex bol insulation keeping
Kiwi homes warm and dry this winter News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
All right, it is now five twenty two, So alarm
bells are being raised about these high strength beers taking
root in the marketplace. Single bottles of beer are being
sold with alcohol contents ranging from eight percent up to
as high as sixteen percent. They're being sold in supermarkets.
Grand Hewison is the secretary at Communities Against Alcohol Harm
and joins me. Now, Halogrand, good morning, How are you
(12:04):
very good? Why have these beers suddenly become a thing,
Why they become so popular?
Speaker 12 (12:10):
Yeah, Look, these beer products have very high alcohol by
volume content. Back in the day RTDs with that level
of alcohol by content, we're described as court cases in
a can, and the industry came round to the view
that that should be voluntarily prohibited, so they reduced the
(12:33):
volume to seven percent. But now we've sort of seen
the bear market develop into these extra strong and megastrong
beer products.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And yet my supermarket is full of wine with twelve
percent alcohol content and they don't call that crime in
a can.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
The wine isn't intended to be drunk in one session.
So these are five hundred milk cans. You pop them open,
they're fizzy, They're going to go flat pretty quickly, so
they're designed to be drunk pretty quickly.
Speaker 8 (13:01):
So that's that's the risk is do you.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Have some sort of studies that can actually prove that,
because I'm pretty sure most people I know who open
a bottle of wine tend to get through it.
Speaker 12 (13:11):
Oh, they're not the sort of people PEPs. I know,
No wine's mine, you know, generally has drunk over the
course of an evening. These are designed to be drunk
in a very quick manner.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, I did know. I've already told the story. I've
had a twelve percent beer in France and it was
pretty pretty full on.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
One you were happy to you were squiffly. Three honestly,
you were hallucinating. Is there something about high alcohol content
in a carbonated beverage like a beer means that the
alcohol gets them better?
Speaker 12 (13:39):
Yeah, Look, it's probably probably just the case that you
drink and consume it much more quickly. What's also important
is that these products are sold as singles, often for
quite a cheap price, under six dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
What's the problem, I sing?
Speaker 12 (13:54):
Well, again, you're just consuming it very quickly. It's designed
so that you can PEPs if you're young, you can
secrete them on your person pretty easily. You can purchase
them as a single for a very cheap price. So
they have that high risk associated with them as well.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So are you just warning against these beers or would
you like them band.
Speaker 12 (14:15):
Well, look, this is what the government did back in
twenty thirteen with RTDs of that alcoho bo contents. They
were looking to prohibit them. The industry realized this was
an issue, this was a court case in the can
and the industry came around pretty quickly to saying there's
very high strength products that are carbonated that are in
single cans. We're not what we should be selling good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Grant, have you had one?
Speaker 12 (14:38):
Have I had one? I've had a taste of one,
the sixteen percent one. Yes, they are not pleasant, but
they will get you intoxicated very quickly.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
God An, Yeah, thank you so much. That's doctor Grant Hewison,
who is from Communities Against Alcohol Harm. He's the secretary.
It's five twenty five the early.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Edition full show podcast on Ihart Radio. Howar By News
Talks at Me New.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Talks Have b five twenty seven. It is no secret
that the construction industry is in trouble and there's a
number of factors. Firstly, the booming construction right after the
pandemic years as money became cheaper and cheaper, so more
and more projects were undertaken, more and more builders were hired.
We had a residential construction boom in twenty twenty two,
about fifty one thousand consents issued, driven by surging house
(15:23):
prices and historically low interest rates. But the good times
went to last. A new government came in cut many projects,
like the construction of two and a half thousand state houses,
cutting builders launches. Meanwhile, the supply of cheap money dried
up as the Reserve Bank attacked the recession by raising
interest rates. We ended out with too many builders for
(15:43):
fewer projects. As major infrastructure projects went on hiatus waiting
for the government wanting to spend on them, trained, highly
trained construction workers went looking for work. Most often in Australia,
they left. Construction went into a tailspin. There are claims
that we've lost seventeen thousand workers, but in every cloud
you could almost say there's a silver lining. A new
(16:04):
report says that construction firms are now offering large discounts
to avoid collapse. Some are offering discounts of up to
fifty percent to keep their workers busy. These are in
the firms that are left. Six hundred and eighty seven
firms have been liquidated this past year. It's a threefold
increase in just three years. It hasn't been pleasant. The
(16:24):
firms that are left and are still doing the business
should be hailed as heroes prepared to work through the
bad times rather than cutting and running. And can I
just say to you, if you're thinking about a commercial
residential bill, can I suggest there is no better time
that now. You'll never get a better deal going forward.
And maybe, just maybe we might be able to work
our way out of a construction bust, which was all
(16:47):
our making in the first place. Silly, you know, I
drank that Diablo beer in France thirty years ago, and
I drank it just as fast as I drank wine.
I don't know where grant was coming from. Meanwhile, a
text through says you can get two hundred and fifty
million cans of wine at twelve to fourteen percent, designed
to be drunk in one sitting and not all over
(17:09):
an evening. Yeah, exactly, So where that came from, I
don't know. Meanwhile, on the insurance, perhaps you could tell
people just how much private health insurance costs when you
get older, writes a text. We have had full comprehensive
insurance for sixty years. Now in our late seventies is
going up to over twenty three thousand dollars a year,
so we won't be able to afford it any more,
(17:30):
which is probably how most people are, and that is
going to put a much bigger burden on the public
health system. There we go on the way much we
can from the United States of America and Duncan Web
from the Labor Party because he believes that we're in
some electoral trouble right now with the new rules. Love
Adred Dickens. This is early.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Addition the news you need this morning and the in
depth analysis earlier this year with Andrew Dickens and x
full insulation keeping Kiwi homes and try this winter news talks.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That'd be he you were my head and my beer
when I'm dreaming you trying to be my friend.
Speaker 8 (18:09):
You're blown a hole.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yes, goodbody too. Ryan Bridge is taking a long weekend,
so Andrew Dickins here just for one day only. I'm
here for a good time in a long time. All right,
stories making news today. I saw this in CNN, and
I see it's also in the Herald today. The headline
too much moose meat and Antler's caused a plane crash
in Alaska that killed congresswoman's husband. Oh what a great headline.
(18:35):
I could tell you more about this investigation and this story,
but why bother. It's all there in that headline. Too
much moose meat and antler's caused the plane crash in
Alaska that killed congress woman's husband. You've got cluttony, you've
got trophy hunting, you've got death, you've got carnage, you've
got cold weather, you've got Alaska, and there's a little
bit of political spin. It's the perfect story. You can
tell that story in one sentence. Meanwhile, in business news
(18:56):
from New Zealand, west Auckland's Flip and Fun trampoline park
is in Liquiday, victim to an up and down market.
I'm sorry. Now to the new electoral laws, I've got
no problem with them. They demand you enrolled two weeks
before an election instead of on the day, with a
move to election day enrolling. It seemed to reward people
who had not actively engaged in the democratic process. If
(19:18):
they were engaged, they would have enrolled earlier. As soon
as the orange letter the orange guy sort of popped
up on the telly or the letter popped into the
letter box. You know, people book for concerts months before
the event with no problem whatsoever. We get passports if
we want to travel now with New Zealand on the
top and not Altera Roa, which makes sense because Americans
know what New Zealand is. But when you say I'm
(19:39):
from Altairo, they go huh so, yeah, anyway, you can enroll,
no problem. Suggesting same day enrolling benefited the left is also,
I think an interesting claim because, as I quote David Seymour,
drop kicks are dropkicks, no matter their political persuasion. If
they can't be bothered enrolling, they can't be bothered voting.
In my opinion, and in combination with the laxity on
(20:01):
the treating rules, it was a system that was being
gained and we saw that at the Manual Daba Marai
last election. Voters who were not engaged in the process
got tracked into a polling station, they got enrolled, they
were given a feed from the barbecue and then thrown
into the pole station and then they cast their vote
for the guys who just cooked them. There's some sausages,
you know. The increase in donation levels doesn't bother me
(20:23):
either way, And because have you noticed we're in an
inflationary period, it's up a thousand bucks. Nor does taking
the vote from prisoners, because they've taken from society. Now,
whether it's a property or even a life, they've taken
from society. A crime against society means you lose the
right to be part of society, which is why we
lock you up and we also take away your vote.
(20:46):
But anyway, labors all up in arms about this so
called attack on democratic rights. So we're going to have
a chat to Duncan web just before six. It is
twenty one to six, sid be right around the country.
We go and first of freezing to need them where
minus five at the airport? Emily Ansel, goodbrding to you.
Speaker 13 (21:02):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So what's the airport doing in Queenstown and the Remarkable
Station National Trust?
Speaker 13 (21:08):
Yes, so they are both teaming up to restore native biodiversity.
The two organizations partnership focuses on Remarkable Station, nestled between
the mountains and Lake Wakatipu. It is currently leased as
a working deer, cattle and sheep farm. The aim is
to eradicate a sycamore tree infestation, allowing native plants to
regenerate over the coming decade. Queenstown Airport. Sarah Irvine says
(21:32):
the remarkables are the first thing passengers see when they
step off a plane and are an iconic symbol of
the region.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And the weather's obviously cold.
Speaker 13 (21:42):
Yes pretty cold, mainly find apart from morning low cloud
or fog. It's worth noting Southern Police are advising caution
while driving due to the risk of black ice high
cloud increasing from the afternoon with a high of thirteen degrees.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Thank you, EMILYE Claire Sherwood from christ It's good morning
to you.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So the community's getting together to find a missing woman.
Speaker 9 (22:02):
Well and they have done exactly that. Andrew Police used
a mobile emergency alert feature last night to share the
details of this missing woman. It was about eight point
thirty that that started coming through to phones. The alert
said that the seventy nine year old woman who suffers
from a medical condition believed to be dementia, had gone
missing in the suburb of Bishopdale. The community honestly, well
(22:24):
and truly activated. I was watching Facebook. There were dozens
and dozens and dozens of posts popping up of people
getting together, whether it be groups of strangers. Because of
course it was dark. They didn't want to go alone
or friends getting together. They were looking at local schools,
parks gardens. Within two hours, police then confirmed the woman
had been found by one of those members of the
public who had received the emergency text alert. It's remarkable
(22:47):
and a very happy ending for this story. It's a
real contrast though, to the sad story of Elizabeth Nichols,
who was also seventy nine. She died in christ Church
and was found in an abandoned home last month. She'd
been missing for two weeks after god missing from a
local waste time. So praise for police using this emergency
alert system.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
How brisk is your weather today?
Speaker 9 (23:07):
It is very cold this morning, frosty minus three at
the moment, will clear to fine with northeries and high
of twelve.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Thank you Max Tell from Wellington. Good morning to you,
Good morning to Papa. Has had some global recognition.
Speaker 11 (23:19):
Yeah, fantastic news for our National Museum rated trip Advisor's
top tourist attraction in New Zealand, formulated using visitor feedback
and other metrics, not only number one in New Zealand,
but in the top one percent of global attractions, ranked
number five in the South Pacific region. Four point seven
stars is the average visitor rating on this hugely influential website.
(23:41):
Trip Advisor is often what tourists scan when they come here.
What's good? Where should I go? Also an endorsement in
a way of the thirty five dollars entry fee that
started being charged last year for international tourists. Clearly that's
not putting people off four hundred and thirty thousand total
through in the past financial year just from overseas, Australia,
British US most commonly spending on average two hours at
(24:04):
tep Papa. Good news for the capital.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
All right, how's your weather?
Speaker 11 (24:07):
Yeah, very cold this morning as well, mostly fine though
once it warms up with north least thirteen the high and.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I think you never let demander joins you now from Aukland. Hellnreetings.
So the great Auckland helicopter battle continues.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
Yes, the story that keeps on giving. So what's happened
now is that an Aucland Council committee is voted to
urgently clarify and titan how private helicopter use in residential
zones is managed under the Auckland Unitary Plan. Now the councilors,
they're voted to seek an urgent decision from the Environment
caught to clarify how private helicopter activity in the residential
areas on Auckland's mainland they should currently be interpreted under
(24:43):
this plan. Now, the Auckland Unitary Plan applies to all
places in Auckland other than the Hodaki Gulf island. So
they've also voted to initiate a change to the plan
the Unitary Plan to make it explicitly clear that private
helicopter take offs and landings in residential areas still with
me and non complying activities, right, yeah, So obviously this
(25:04):
is with all the what's happening in with Ellie Williamson.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
This is enough to make me want to sell my
helicopter if I can't use it. Why wasted money?
Speaker 7 (25:16):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Exactly, It's just like I just have to take a car.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
There's a different angle every day. Exactly, take a car.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I love your fingernails, by the way.
Speaker 10 (25:23):
Oh, orange, bright orange color.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yes, what's talking's the like?
Speaker 11 (25:26):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Maybe fine?
Speaker 10 (25:27):
Morning Frost and Charter places Auckland's Eye fifteen and.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I thank you. In the moment, we're off to the
United States of America. Mit to McCann, Donald Trump making
the news. He he is a news maker, isn't he.
But there's the Epstein thing. But the exhauser has battled
with Columbia University. What's happened there? And Duncan Web the
Labor Justice spokesperson. They're up in arms about the elector rules.
Though after my comments just moments ago, I'm getting people
saying I agree with that common sense if you asked me.
(25:53):
So we'll see what why Duncan has our problem with
this whole new scenario. Very shortly here on ZB This
is early edition that is sixteen to.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Six International Correspondence with ends and eye Insurance, Peace of
Mind for New Zealand Business to America.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We go. Mitch McCain, Good morning to you, Good morning,
how are you. I'm good. The Epstein case continues, and
now Jela Maxwell is going to talk with the Department
of Justice.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Yeah, that's right. This is a story that really is
not going away for Donald Trump, no matter what he
does to make that happen. The latest information is that
the Deputy Attorney General, as you mentioned, who also used
to be Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is reportedly flying to Tallahassee, Florida,
where gillais Maxwell is serving a twenty year prison sentence
for six trafficking Now. The reason he's going there is
(26:44):
to find out if she can give any more information
about Jeffrey Epstein or anyone else that was involved with
Epstein and committed any crimes. Some would argue this might
be an attempt from the White House to look like
they're doing something after not releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
But the story is not going away, and the President
has become increasingly infuriated every time he gets asked about it.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah. I Meanwhile, he's been battling with Columbia University, so
where's that got to.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
He has also been battling the number of universities around
the country. Overnight, we learned that Columbia University has agreed
to a settlement with the government. They're going to pay
around two hundred million dollars. This is after the Trump
administration froze about four hundred million dollars worth of grants
to Columbia earlier this year because it said it failed
to combat anti semitism on campus. Stuff agreed now to
(27:35):
pay that two hundred million dollars, so some of those
grants become unfrozen. Critics saying this is just another example
of Donald Trump bullying higher education institutions because he sees
them as too liberal.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Because stuff. Oh and sad news Hogan has died. The
wrestling star at the age of seventy one. Were you
a fan, a.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
Little bit of a fan, a little bit of a fan,
perhaps same story though it.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, absolutely, you had to love his peroxided mustache and
his propensity for ripping his shirt into pieces and then
yelling at everybody. Of course, he's a big fan of
Donald Trump as well. Hey, I thank you so much much, mcam. Meanwhile,
in the Middle East, the UN agency there says staff
of fainting from hunger. As starvation spreads in Gaza. Journalists
are saying that they're fainting because they're starving. The United
(28:22):
Nations Relief from Works agency says the entire humanitarian system
is collapsing. And the agency says people in Gaza are
walking corpses and they say, we've got six thousand AID
trucks ready to enter, just let us in. Meanwhile, Israeli
officials have called the Hamas truce proposal workable, come on quickly,
but for God's say, give the buggers some food. You've
destroyed their houses, Just give them some food. This will
(28:47):
not be judged well by history News talkb. It is
ten to six.
Speaker 8 (28:52):
Zibb.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Right, Well, major changes are coming on how you can
vote in the general elections. The government's scraps same day enrollments,
meaning must now enrolled to vote before early voting starts.
You've got to do that two weeks before election day.
And free food, drinks and entertainment of voting booths will
also be banned. Labor says tens of thousands of people
will miss out on exercising their democratic right to vote
(29:14):
as a result of today's changes. And Duncan web is
Labor's just a spokesperson and joins you this morning quantity
of Duncan.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
Good morning, Good for you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Now, why is this limiting democracy? A deadline is a deadline,
whether it's on the day or two weeks beforehand. Just
go out there and enroll.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Well, look, I guess the numbers speak for themselves. There
are one hundred and ten thousand people who didn't get
round to sorting out their enrollment prior to election day
for whatever reason. You know, busy people working, people looking
after kids and so. But and then they decide, Gee,
I forgot that I want to vote. I'm going to
go down. What do you know, I can do it
(29:52):
right here. And I think that those hundred and ten
thousand people actually have as much right to have a
say and who runs the country as anyone else does.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
But there's an obligation when you get a vote, and
one of those obligations is to enroll. And they obviously
didn't think much of the election, and they weren't involved
in the democratic process if they couldn't get enrolled two
weeks before the election, there.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Is an obligation to be enrolled. And you know, I'm
sure a lot of people appreciate that. When you're moving
houses and you know, you've got a lot on your mind,
you don't always think and I've got to get hold
of the Electoral Commission and let them know my new address.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Dunk in the letter and the ad campaign arrives months
before the election. You got plenty of time. Two weeks
is the deadline. Get You could have done it three
months ago before you were moving.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Oh, you know, the ad campaign's out there. Not everyone's
watching TV and looking at those kinds of things. So
you've got to remember these are people, mainly people who
have moved, so the letter which sometimes doesn't arrive, but
often goes to the older address, not the new one.
So there's all kind of administrative reasons why people might
not enroll to vote. And if you're going to say, well, look,
if you're not onto it, you don't remember that you've
(31:00):
got to change your enrollment every time your move house,
and a lot of people move houses frequently. Students are
a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Okay, well, there's a lot of people who are insinuating
that the reason you are defending the right to enroll
on the election day is because you believe later rollers
are left voters.
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Are you no, Look, I think this is about everyone.
There's all kinds of reasons people will forget to change
their enrollment details. Some of them will be left, some
of them won't. But every single vote counts, and I'd
rather have an enrollment system where everyone gets a crack.
They're one where you know, two electorates worth, some people
(31:38):
don't get to vote because they weren't quite onto it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Okay, what about the treating the food, the drink and
the entertainment. I mean that is actually a very minor bribe,
is it?
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Not.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
You look, the rules around serving food or drinks and
so on around the voting have always been a bit murky,
and we actually support it and recommended in the Select committee.
Did there be some changes around us?
Speaker 8 (32:02):
So it's really really.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Good clarification to say, look, one hundred meters of a
voting place, you can't be offering sausages or hungy or whatever.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
It might be good.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Soeff Duncan, I thank you for your time this morning. Duncan.
We're Labor spokesperson. It is now seven minutes too is
thank you mate, let me go, I've got them off
here now, Labor spokes It is now seven minutes to six.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
The first word on the News of the Day Early
edition with Andrew Dickens and x Fole Insulation keeping Kiwi
homes warm and dry this winter news talks that'd be.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Well, you're not quite on duncan website, Andrew, People who
aren't quite onto it aligned perfectly with all Labor Party candidates.
Come on, Duncan, how about we reward the organized and
not the hopeless. Yeah, and Mike Hoskin joins, us, I
saw your new car today. It's very low, very not
as low as they come, but it's still very low,
(32:56):
and I'm thinking, I'm thinking, there's got to be an
old man grunt every time you get no.
Speaker 14 (33:04):
I actually pride myself. I had a car and I
won't tell you what it was, but I had a
car that had bucket seats, racing seats. There was a
grunt there because that's hard work. But this has got
standard seats and I just glide in and out in
a really flexible love life.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I've been saying, old man Grant ever since we did
a radio telethon thing and you came down as a
special guest and you've broken your tailbone and you got.
Speaker 14 (33:26):
Off, and I hadn't broken it, but I remember that distinctly.
That was literaly and you chopped up on the seat
and went and we all went, Oh, man Grant. My
brother in law and I were on a scooter. I
was on the back of the scooter in Rome and
he went over. I saw it coming. I saw the
bump on the road coming, and I thought, this is
the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
The passenger always be the driver.
Speaker 14 (33:45):
The passenger exactly right. I can't tell you what Paul
Goldsmith is going to tell us, but there's a thing
coming out today in the justice area.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Why is it a margot?
Speaker 14 (33:54):
I have no idea, so he could come on my
program and reveal it to the world.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Whatever you're talking to, Nichola Willis, I am she is.
I loved your Mike's minute the other day. It was
very good writing.
Speaker 14 (34:05):
Well, I'll ask her about that. And to be honest,
the Ryan who I note has taken a Friday off.
He was defending her, saying she knows, but it was
all the political game.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So yeah, man, you can only do that so many times.
I agree, Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 14 (34:19):
So anyway, she's will us toick.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Have a great weekend. I am not working next week.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to News Talks. It'd be from five am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
The issues, the interviews and the insight. Andrew Dickens on
EARLI edition with ex Pole Insulation, keeping Kiwi Holmes warm
and try this winter news talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
They'd be welcome onrning to you on this very cold
morning minus five at an airport minus three in Masterton
right now, I'm Andrew Dickens in for Ryan Bridge, who's
just taking a long weekend. Coming up over the next hour.
Should government ministers be forced to pause their private health
insurance and use the public system? Some doctors think so.
They've written an open letter. What does the Chair of
(00:32):
Health New Zealand think That story? In just minutes new
high strength beers of flooding the market? Are they any good?
Or are they doing bad? That story in fifteen we've
got all the news from America with Mitch mccam including
the latest and the Epstein saga and the new electoral rules.
Are they undemocratic? Labour think so, And we're going to
talk to their spokesperson just before six. We'll go right
(00:53):
around the country with our reporters and we'll have news
as it breaks and you can have your say ye
saying we at texts. The number is ninety ten two
ninety two is small charge applies at seven after five
the agenda, Well, it's Friday, the twenty fifth of July.
You made it first to the da situation in Gaza.
Now more than one hundred international aid organizations have warned
(01:15):
of mass starvation, and they all blame Israel. The UN
says it has six thousand trucks worth of aid waiting
to enter. A news organizations say even their journalists on
the ground are unable to feed themselves. A doctor in
Gaza says Palestinians are not close to famine. They're living it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Path to aired is path today it's a one way ticket.
I see the injured people who come to the hospital
in big numbers. We sometimes receive up to fifty injury
to day. We don't have any time to close our
eyes and have some rare.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To America, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting Trump
was told in May that he was among hundreds of
names mentioned in Justice Department documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
The White House is calling it a fake news story.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
The President has made it clear that he wanted these
documents to be declassified. He wanted the American people to
see the truth. And now he wants those who perpetuated
these lies in this scandal to be held accountable, and.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
It puts even more pressure on Trump to release the files.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
It's different from other controversies he spaced during his political
career because, for the first time since he's gotten involved
in politics over the last decade, we have seen that
his conservative nagabase appears to be spluntering.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Meanwhile, there's legal action between Donald Trump and the Wall
Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal owned by Rupert Murdoch.
So mates of fighting and now here's a nice story.
A Canadian tourism man has called come hug it out
has gone viral. The video from Quebec's Eastern Township shows
a Canadian hotel worker giving an American tourist a big
(02:52):
Canadian hug, a friendly nudge to call off the tension
after months of tariffs and taunts between the US and Canada.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
ESK spooky.
Speaker 7 (03:02):
Sorry, I don't speak French.
Speaker 8 (03:03):
I'm just visiting.
Speaker 9 (03:04):
Well, then, welcome to Canada's eastern townships.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Where are you visiting from.
Speaker 7 (03:09):
I'm American, ah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Doki, hey, and the numbers don't lie between the United
States and Canada. US travel to Canada by car is
down eleven percent, and Canadians heading south down are whopping
thirty three percent. It's ten out of five.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Get ahead of the headlines on early edition with Andrew
Dickins and x Fole Insulation keeping Kiwi homes warm and dry.
This winter news talks at me.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So is this the week that the Nikola Willis bubble burst?
The Finance Minister was widely criticized this week as being ineffectual.
After the much hyped butter summit with Miles Hurl from
fon Terra, nothing happened other than Miles yesterday telling us
exactly why butter is high, which was something we already knew. Meanwhile,
the Minister doubled down in the house at question time,
(03:57):
getting more and more historyonic, leading some to compare her
answers to Labour's questions as the sound of a bellowing
farm animal with just as much hot air. Mike Hosky
on The Breakfast Show Had Fun criticized her continual over
hyping of what she can achieve with consumer prices, noting
that she's doing the same with the supermarket issue and
comparing her to de Cinder Addurn, who remember told us
(04:18):
once upon a time that petrol companies were fleecing us. Meanwhile,
the country is locked into a morderal and economic state,
possibly due to excessive austerity. In the pursuit of lower
debt levels, she's prune the bureaucracy, which is no bad thing,
but she also turned off government funding of critical work,
negatively impacting many sectors, including construction. I'll tell you a
(04:38):
story about construction in a few moments. And in canceling
the fairies, she may have saved us a big bill now,
but it threatens to be an even bigger bill later.
Nikola Willis may be a factor in National's poor performance
in the polls as the recession drags on, because we
all know any election the most important issue is the economy, stupid,
(05:00):
and she's the one running the economy. And with such
a long list of over egged performative politics, you start
to wonder if the Prime Minister might be starting to
look to the subs bench because with all the negative
press coming her way, she may have cooked her slightly
overinflated goose. And Nichola Willis will be in conversation with
Mike Hoskin, which should be very entertaining after six o'clock
(05:21):
this morning. Right here on News Talks ATB. It's twelve after.
Speaker 10 (05:24):
Five News TALKSB.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
All right, so as some health workers set an open letter,
don't you love an open letter? Not really, but they
set an open letter and they reckon that politicians should
use the public health system and not their private insurance
so that they can really experience what it's really really like.
So is this a good idea? Is this a stunt?
What does the Chair of Health New Zealand, Rob Campbell
(05:48):
think about it? And would he only use a public system?
I will find out all his former chair of course,
we'll find this out in just a few moments time.
Right here on News Talks ATB.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Views and Views you Trust to start your day. It's
early edition with Andrew Dickins at expol Insulation keeping Kiwi
Holmes warm and dry this winter News Talks d B.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, it's fourteen out to five. Should MPs have to
use the public health system? That is a challenge from
a group of health workers who are calling out politicians
saying they should have to rely on the systems that
they reside over so they can personally experience the consequences
of any decision they make. So Rob Campbell is the
former chair of Tafata Order Health New Zealand, and he
(06:34):
comes to the program. Now good On is here. Rob,
thank you once again for getting up early for.
Speaker 8 (06:37):
Us, Marina Andrew, it's not early for some of this is.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Good on you. Is it fair? Is it fair to
force MPs or to ask MPs to use the public
health system?
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Look at they're not going to do it anymore than
they're going to turn down their next pay rise. But
the call that's been made, I think does highlight that
as d MPs, but many people do live in a
bit of a cocoon from the major problems of our
public health system because they've been able to opt out
to a large extent through the insurance that they hold.
(07:12):
About nearly half of New Zealanders do hold health insurance,
so it's no surprise that many MPs do. So it
highlights the fact that if you don't have the problem,
you probably are not going to effectively deal with the problem.
So I support the call to that extent. Is it practical,
don't think so, But it highlights the point that people
are living in a cocoon and most people, still a
(07:35):
slight majority I believe, are fully reliant on the public system.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, did the open letter writers not go far enough?
You know, because senior bureaucrats in the public service system,
should they also have been asked to rely solely on
the public system since they are making decisions? Should the
opposition also been included in their call?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
Oh? Look, I think it's certainly the call should have been,
and I believe it was direct to do all MPs.
And it made me think, I know, when I was
on to FIGHTO or how many of the senior staff
or other directors held health insurance, because I'd be very
disappointed if they did. But when I think about it,
it's quite possible they did. And there's no question that
your own circumstance does alter your viewers things. So I
(08:15):
think that that point is very valid and it's a
problem for the public health, for the public health system. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
In fact, that was my next question into people at
health New Zealand use private healthcare. You can't really answer it,
but I'm pretty sure they did. So Look, look, here's
the thing. The private system works in conjunction with the
public system, and together they confront the problems that are
facing New Zealanders in terms of their health care. The
private care system is beneficial. Should it be demonized.
Speaker 8 (08:44):
Like this, there's no point in demonizing it. I fully
understand I don't have health insurance, I should say, but
I fully understand why many people do and for a
long time a large part of their health service. In fact,
even right from the GP, we have a privatized health
service system. We don't have a fully public system. We
(09:04):
may think we want one, but we don't have it,
and so the private system is an important part of it.
But I think one of the issues we've got and
using it at the moment is that it doesn't help
to demonize the public system. The public system does a
huge number of good things, which the health workers have
made this call fully understand, and many people get fantastic
service from the public system. So it's public system actually
(09:27):
needs some love rather than punishment. And I think if
I was the boss of a health insurance company, every
time to Far to Wara got attacked or the public
health system got attacked, either think that's good. That's another
few people coming in the front door of my business.
So we do have to be careful about that. We
don't want to demonize either side of it. But the
truth is, if you're making big decisions for something like
(09:50):
a public health system, and you yourself are insulated from it,
it will impact your decision making. There's no way it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You had to work with these people. You had to
work with these senior ministers. Are they, as these open
letter writers say, out of touch with just how dire
the situation is in the health system is? Are they
in fact insulated perform it or did they understand?
Speaker 8 (10:09):
Oh, look, there's no question that they're insulated from it
by the very nature of their job, the way they
do their job, what they've paid, what they're surrounded by,
the advice that they've got in their ears all the time.
There's no question that they're isolated. Then it is a
problem for our representative democracy. When people are elected. On
the day they're elected, they probably do represent some part
(10:30):
of the electorate, but pretty quickly once they get into
that hot ass atmosphere down there in Wellington, they do
lose touch. There's no question of it.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Rob, I thank you for your time. There's Rob Campbell,
the former Health New Zealand chair. By the way, Simeon
Brown says he doesn't have private health insurance. It's a
bit of a witch hunt, really.
Speaker 11 (10:50):
Have you got it?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Have you not got it? What have you got? Strange? Now,
when I was living in France, there was a beer
there called the Diablow Beer, and beer had a twelve
percent alcohol level. So if you had one, you were
pretty happy. If you had two, you were pretty squiffy.
And if you had three, I tell you you were hallucinating.
(11:11):
Something about high strength to beer, even if it's the
same strength as wine. Somehow, maybe it's the bubbles. I
don't know, it gets into your brain. It's pretty heavy stuff.
Turns out that we've got a whole lot of these big,
old high alcohol level beers in New Zealand right now,
and they're going off and kids are buying them. So
is this a problem and why is it a problem.
We'll have that story for your next here on News
Talks at B. It is five twenty.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Andrew Dickens on early edition with ex bol insulation keeping
Kiwi homes warm and dry this winter News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
All right, it is now five twenty two, So alarm
bells are being raised about these high strength beers taking
root in the marketplace. Single bottles of beer are being
sold with alcohol contents ranging from eight percent up to
as high as sixteen percent. They're being sold in supermarkets.
Grand Hewison is the secretary at Communities Against Alcohol Harm
and joins me. Now, Halogrand, good morning, How are you
(12:04):
very good? Why have these beers suddenly become a thing,
Why they become so popular?
Speaker 12 (12:10):
Yeah, Look, these beer products have very high alcohol by
volume content. Back in the day RTDs with that level
of alcohol by content, we're described as court cases in
a can, and the industry came round to the view
that that should be voluntarily prohibited, so they reduced the
(12:33):
volume to seven percent. But now we've sort of seen
the bear market develop into these extra strong and megastrong
beer products.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And yet my supermarket is full of wine with twelve
percent alcohol content and they don't call that crime in
a can.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
The wine isn't intended to be drunk in one session.
So these are five hundred milk cans. You pop them open,
they're fizzy, They're going to go flat pretty quickly, so
they're designed to be drunk pretty quickly.
Speaker 8 (13:01):
So that's that's the risk is do you.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Have some sort of studies that can actually prove that,
because I'm pretty sure most people I know who open
a bottle of wine tend to get through it.
Speaker 12 (13:11):
Oh, they're not the sort of people PEPs. I know,
No wine's mine, you know, generally has drunk over the
course of an evening. These are designed to be drunk
in a very quick manner.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, I did know. I've already told the story. I've
had a twelve percent beer in France and it was
pretty pretty full on.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
One you were happy to you were squiffly. Three honestly,
you were hallucinating. Is there something about high alcohol content
in a carbonated beverage like a beer means that the
alcohol gets them better?
Speaker 12 (13:39):
Yeah, Look, it's probably probably just the case that you
drink and consume it much more quickly. What's also important
is that these products are sold as singles, often for
quite a cheap price, under six dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
What's the problem, I sing?
Speaker 12 (13:54):
Well, again, you're just consuming it very quickly. It's designed
so that you can PEPs if you're young, you can
secrete them on your person pretty easily. You can purchase
them as a single for a very cheap price. So
they have that high risk associated with them as well.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So are you just warning against these beers or would
you like them band.
Speaker 12 (14:15):
Well, look, this is what the government did back in
twenty thirteen with RTDs of that alcoho bo contents. They
were looking to prohibit them. The industry realized this was
an issue, this was a court case in the can
and the industry came around pretty quickly to saying there's
very high strength products that are carbonated that are in
single cans. We're not what we should be selling good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Grant, have you had one?
Speaker 12 (14:38):
Have I had one? I've had a taste of one,
the sixteen percent one. Yes, they are not pleasant, but
they will get you intoxicated very quickly.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
God An, Yeah, thank you so much. That's doctor Grant Hewison,
who is from Communities Against Alcohol Harm. He's the secretary.
It's five twenty five the early.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Edition full show podcast on Ihart Radio. Howar By News
Talks at Me New.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Talks Have b five twenty seven. It is no secret
that the construction industry is in trouble and there's a
number of factors. Firstly, the booming construction right after the
pandemic years as money became cheaper and cheaper, so more
and more projects were undertaken, more and more builders were hired.
We had a residential construction boom in twenty twenty two,
about fifty one thousand consents issued, driven by surging house
(15:23):
prices and historically low interest rates. But the good times
went to last. A new government came in cut many projects,
like the construction of two and a half thousand state houses,
cutting builders launches. Meanwhile, the supply of cheap money dried
up as the Reserve Bank attacked the recession by raising
interest rates. We ended out with too many builders for
(15:43):
fewer projects. As major infrastructure projects went on hiatus waiting
for the government wanting to spend on them, trained, highly
trained construction workers went looking for work. Most often in Australia,
they left. Construction went into a tailspin. There are claims
that we've lost seventeen thousand workers, but in every cloud
you could almost say there's a silver lining. A new
(16:04):
report says that construction firms are now offering large discounts
to avoid collapse. Some are offering discounts of up to
fifty percent to keep their workers busy. These are in
the firms that are left. Six hundred and eighty seven
firms have been liquidated this past year. It's a threefold
increase in just three years. It hasn't been pleasant. The
(16:24):
firms that are left and are still doing the business
should be hailed as heroes prepared to work through the
bad times rather than cutting and running. And can I
just say to you, if you're thinking about a commercial
residential bill, can I suggest there is no better time
that now. You'll never get a better deal going forward.
And maybe, just maybe we might be able to work
our way out of a construction bust, which was all
(16:47):
our making in the first place. Silly, you know, I
drank that Diablo beer in France thirty years ago, and
I drank it just as fast as I drank wine.
I don't know where grant was coming from. Meanwhile, a
text through says you can get two hundred and fifty
million cans of wine at twelve to fourteen percent, designed
to be drunk in one sitting and not all over
(17:09):
an evening. Yeah, exactly, So where that came from, I
don't know. Meanwhile, on the insurance, perhaps you could tell
people just how much private health insurance costs when you
get older, writes a text. We have had full comprehensive
insurance for sixty years. Now in our late seventies is
going up to over twenty three thousand dollars a year,
so we won't be able to afford it any more,
(17:30):
which is probably how most people are, and that is
going to put a much bigger burden on the public
health system. There we go on the way much we
can from the United States of America and Duncan Web
from the Labor Party because he believes that we're in
some electoral trouble right now with the new rules. Love
Adred Dickens. This is early.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Addition the news you need this morning and the in
depth analysis earlier this year with Andrew Dickens and x
full insulation keeping Kiwi homes and try this winter news talks.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That'd be he you were my head and my beer
when I'm dreaming you trying to be my friend.
Speaker 8 (18:09):
You're blown a hole.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yes, goodbody too. Ryan Bridge is taking a long weekend,
so Andrew Dickins here just for one day only. I'm
here for a good time in a long time. All right,
stories making news today. I saw this in CNN, and
I see it's also in the Herald today. The headline
too much moose meat and Antler's caused a plane crash
in Alaska that killed congresswoman's husband. Oh what a great headline.
(18:35):
I could tell you more about this investigation and this story,
but why bother. It's all there in that headline. Too
much moose meat and antler's caused the plane crash in
Alaska that killed congress woman's husband. You've got cluttony, you've
got trophy hunting, you've got death, you've got carnage, you've
got cold weather, you've got Alaska, and there's a little
bit of political spin. It's the perfect story. You can
tell that story in one sentence. Meanwhile, in business news
(18:56):
from New Zealand, west Auckland's Flip and Fun trampoline park
is in Liquiday, victim to an up and down market.
I'm sorry. Now to the new electoral laws, I've got
no problem with them. They demand you enrolled two weeks
before an election instead of on the day, with a
move to election day enrolling. It seemed to reward people
who had not actively engaged in the democratic process. If
(19:18):
they were engaged, they would have enrolled earlier. As soon
as the orange letter the orange guy sort of popped
up on the telly or the letter popped into the
letter box. You know, people book for concerts months before
the event with no problem whatsoever. We get passports if
we want to travel now with New Zealand on the
top and not Altera Roa, which makes sense because Americans
know what New Zealand is. But when you say I'm
(19:39):
from Altairo, they go huh so, yeah, anyway, you can enroll,
no problem. Suggesting same day enrolling benefited the left is also,
I think an interesting claim because, as I quote David Seymour,
drop kicks are dropkicks, no matter their political persuasion. If
they can't be bothered enrolling, they can't be bothered voting.
In my opinion, and in combination with the laxity on
(20:01):
the treating rules, it was a system that was being
gained and we saw that at the Manual Daba Marai
last election. Voters who were not engaged in the process
got tracked into a polling station, they got enrolled, they
were given a feed from the barbecue and then thrown
into the pole station and then they cast their vote
for the guys who just cooked them. There's some sausages,
you know. The increase in donation levels doesn't bother me
(20:23):
either way, And because have you noticed we're in an
inflationary period, it's up a thousand bucks. Nor does taking
the vote from prisoners, because they've taken from society. Now,
whether it's a property or even a life, they've taken
from society. A crime against society means you lose the
right to be part of society, which is why we
lock you up and we also take away your vote.
(20:46):
But anyway, labors all up in arms about this so
called attack on democratic rights. So we're going to have
a chat to Duncan web just before six. It is
twenty one to six, sid be right around the country.
We go and first of freezing to need them where
minus five at the airport? Emily Ansel, goodbrding to you.
Speaker 13 (21:02):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So what's the airport doing in Queenstown and the Remarkable
Station National Trust?
Speaker 13 (21:08):
Yes, so they are both teaming up to restore native biodiversity.
The two organizations partnership focuses on Remarkable Station, nestled between
the mountains and Lake Wakatipu. It is currently leased as
a working deer, cattle and sheep farm. The aim is
to eradicate a sycamore tree infestation, allowing native plants to
regenerate over the coming decade. Queenstown Airport. Sarah Irvine says
(21:32):
the remarkables are the first thing passengers see when they
step off a plane and are an iconic symbol of
the region.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And the weather's obviously cold.
Speaker 13 (21:42):
Yes pretty cold, mainly find apart from morning low cloud
or fog. It's worth noting Southern Police are advising caution
while driving due to the risk of black ice high
cloud increasing from the afternoon with a high of thirteen degrees.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Thank you, EMILYE Claire Sherwood from christ It's good morning
to you.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So the community's getting together to find a missing woman.
Speaker 9 (22:02):
Well and they have done exactly that. Andrew Police used
a mobile emergency alert feature last night to share the
details of this missing woman. It was about eight point
thirty that that started coming through to phones. The alert
said that the seventy nine year old woman who suffers
from a medical condition believed to be dementia, had gone
missing in the suburb of Bishopdale. The community honestly, well
(22:24):
and truly activated. I was watching Facebook. There were dozens
and dozens and dozens of posts popping up of people
getting together, whether it be groups of strangers. Because of
course it was dark. They didn't want to go alone
or friends getting together. They were looking at local schools,
parks gardens. Within two hours, police then confirmed the woman
had been found by one of those members of the
public who had received the emergency text alert. It's remarkable
(22:47):
and a very happy ending for this story. It's a
real contrast though, to the sad story of Elizabeth Nichols,
who was also seventy nine. She died in christ Church
and was found in an abandoned home last month. She'd
been missing for two weeks after god missing from a
local waste time. So praise for police using this emergency
alert system.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
How brisk is your weather today?
Speaker 9 (23:07):
It is very cold this morning, frosty minus three at
the moment, will clear to fine with northeries and high
of twelve.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Thank you Max Tell from Wellington. Good morning to you,
Good morning to Papa. Has had some global recognition.
Speaker 11 (23:19):
Yeah, fantastic news for our National Museum rated trip Advisor's
top tourist attraction in New Zealand, formulated using visitor feedback
and other metrics, not only number one in New Zealand,
but in the top one percent of global attractions, ranked
number five in the South Pacific region. Four point seven
stars is the average visitor rating on this hugely influential website.
(23:41):
Trip Advisor is often what tourists scan when they come here.
What's good? Where should I go? Also an endorsement in
a way of the thirty five dollars entry fee that
started being charged last year for international tourists. Clearly that's
not putting people off four hundred and thirty thousand total
through in the past financial year just from overseas, Australia,
British US most commonly spending on average two hours at
(24:04):
tep Papa. Good news for the capital.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
All right, how's your weather?
Speaker 11 (24:07):
Yeah, very cold this morning as well, mostly fine though
once it warms up with north least thirteen the high and.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I think you never let demander joins you now from Aukland. Hellnreetings.
So the great Auckland helicopter battle continues.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
Yes, the story that keeps on giving. So what's happened
now is that an Aucland Council committee is voted to
urgently clarify and titan how private helicopter use in residential
zones is managed under the Auckland Unitary Plan. Now the councilors,
they're voted to seek an urgent decision from the Environment
caught to clarify how private helicopter activity in the residential
areas on Auckland's mainland they should currently be interpreted under
(24:43):
this plan. Now, the Auckland Unitary Plan applies to all
places in Auckland other than the Hodaki Gulf island. So
they've also voted to initiate a change to the plan
the Unitary Plan to make it explicitly clear that private
helicopter take offs and landings in residential areas still with
me and non complying activities, right, yeah, So obviously this
(25:04):
is with all the what's happening in with Ellie Williamson.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
This is enough to make me want to sell my
helicopter if I can't use it. Why wasted money?
Speaker 7 (25:16):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Exactly, It's just like I just have to take a car.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
There's a different angle every day. Exactly, take a car.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I love your fingernails, by the way.
Speaker 10 (25:23):
Oh, orange, bright orange color.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yes, what's talking's the like?
Speaker 11 (25:26):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Maybe fine?
Speaker 10 (25:27):
Morning Frost and Charter places Auckland's Eye fifteen and.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I thank you. In the moment, we're off to the
United States of America. Mit to McCann, Donald Trump making
the news. He he is a news maker, isn't he.
But there's the Epstein thing. But the exhauser has battled
with Columbia University. What's happened there? And Duncan Web the
Labor Justice spokesperson. They're up in arms about the elector rules.
Though after my comments just moments ago, I'm getting people
saying I agree with that common sense if you asked me.
(25:53):
So we'll see what why Duncan has our problem with
this whole new scenario. Very shortly here on ZB This
is early edition that is sixteen to.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Six International Correspondence with ends and eye Insurance, Peace of
Mind for New Zealand Business to America.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We go. Mitch McCain, Good morning to you, Good morning,
how are you. I'm good. The Epstein case continues, and
now Jela Maxwell is going to talk with the Department
of Justice.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Yeah, that's right. This is a story that really is
not going away for Donald Trump, no matter what he
does to make that happen. The latest information is that
the Deputy Attorney General, as you mentioned, who also used
to be Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is reportedly flying to Tallahassee, Florida,
where gillais Maxwell is serving a twenty year prison sentence
for six trafficking Now. The reason he's going there is
(26:44):
to find out if she can give any more information
about Jeffrey Epstein or anyone else that was involved with
Epstein and committed any crimes. Some would argue this might
be an attempt from the White House to look like
they're doing something after not releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
But the story is not going away, and the President
has become increasingly infuriated every time he gets asked about it.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah. I Meanwhile, he's been battling with Columbia University, so
where's that got to.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
He has also been battling the number of universities around
the country. Overnight, we learned that Columbia University has agreed
to a settlement with the government. They're going to pay
around two hundred million dollars. This is after the Trump
administration froze about four hundred million dollars worth of grants
to Columbia earlier this year because it said it failed
to combat anti semitism on campus. Stuff agreed now to
(27:35):
pay that two hundred million dollars, so some of those
grants become unfrozen. Critics saying this is just another example
of Donald Trump bullying higher education institutions because he sees
them as too liberal.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Because stuff. Oh and sad news Hogan has died. The
wrestling star at the age of seventy one. Were you
a fan, a.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
Little bit of a fan, a little bit of a fan,
perhaps same story though it.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, absolutely, you had to love his peroxided mustache and
his propensity for ripping his shirt into pieces and then
yelling at everybody. Of course, he's a big fan of
Donald Trump as well. Hey, I thank you so much much, mcam. Meanwhile,
in the Middle East, the UN agency there says staff
of fainting from hunger. As starvation spreads in Gaza. Journalists
are saying that they're fainting because they're starving. The United
(28:22):
Nations Relief from Works agency says the entire humanitarian system
is collapsing. And the agency says people in Gaza are
walking corpses and they say, we've got six thousand AID
trucks ready to enter, just let us in. Meanwhile, Israeli
officials have called the Hamas truce proposal workable, come on quickly,
but for God's say, give the buggers some food. You've
destroyed their houses, Just give them some food. This will
(28:47):
not be judged well by history News talkb. It is
ten to six.
Speaker 8 (28:52):
Zibb.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Right, Well, major changes are coming on how you can
vote in the general elections. The government's scraps same day enrollments,
meaning must now enrolled to vote before early voting starts.
You've got to do that two weeks before election day.
And free food, drinks and entertainment of voting booths will
also be banned. Labor says tens of thousands of people
will miss out on exercising their democratic right to vote
(29:14):
as a result of today's changes. And Duncan web is
Labor's just a spokesperson and joins you this morning quantity
of Duncan.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
Good morning, Good for you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Now, why is this limiting democracy? A deadline is a deadline,
whether it's on the day or two weeks beforehand. Just
go out there and enroll.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Well, look, I guess the numbers speak for themselves. There
are one hundred and ten thousand people who didn't get
round to sorting out their enrollment prior to election day
for whatever reason. You know, busy people working, people looking
after kids and so. But and then they decide, Gee,
I forgot that I want to vote. I'm going to
go down. What do you know, I can do it
(29:52):
right here. And I think that those hundred and ten
thousand people actually have as much right to have a
say and who runs the country as anyone else does.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
But there's an obligation when you get a vote, and
one of those obligations is to enroll. And they obviously
didn't think much of the election, and they weren't involved
in the democratic process if they couldn't get enrolled two
weeks before the election, there.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Is an obligation to be enrolled. And you know, I'm
sure a lot of people appreciate that. When you're moving
houses and you know, you've got a lot on your mind,
you don't always think and I've got to get hold
of the Electoral Commission and let them know my new address.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Dunk in the letter and the ad campaign arrives months
before the election. You got plenty of time. Two weeks
is the deadline. Get You could have done it three
months ago before you were moving.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Oh, you know, the ad campaign's out there. Not everyone's
watching TV and looking at those kinds of things. So
you've got to remember these are people, mainly people who
have moved, so the letter which sometimes doesn't arrive, but
often goes to the older address, not the new one.
So there's all kind of administrative reasons why people might
not enroll to vote. And if you're going to say, well, look,
if you're not onto it, you don't remember that you've
(31:00):
got to change your enrollment every time your move house,
and a lot of people move houses frequently. Students are
a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Okay, well, there's a lot of people who are insinuating
that the reason you are defending the right to enroll
on the election day is because you believe later rollers
are left voters.
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Are you no, Look, I think this is about everyone.
There's all kinds of reasons people will forget to change
their enrollment details. Some of them will be left, some
of them won't. But every single vote counts, and I'd
rather have an enrollment system where everyone gets a crack.
They're one where you know, two electorates worth, some people
(31:38):
don't get to vote because they weren't quite onto it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Okay, what about the treating the food, the drink and
the entertainment. I mean that is actually a very minor bribe,
is it?
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Not.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
You look, the rules around serving food or drinks and
so on around the voting have always been a bit murky,
and we actually support it and recommended in the Select committee.
Did there be some changes around us?
Speaker 8 (32:02):
So it's really really.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Good clarification to say, look, one hundred meters of a
voting place, you can't be offering sausages or hungy or whatever.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
It might be good.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Soeff Duncan, I thank you for your time this morning. Duncan.
We're Labor spokesperson. It is now seven minutes too is
thank you mate, let me go, I've got them off
here now, Labor spokes It is now seven minutes to six.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
The first word on the News of the Day Early
edition with Andrew Dickens and x Fole Insulation keeping Kiwi
homes warm and dry this winter news talks that'd be.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Well, you're not quite on duncan website, Andrew, People who
aren't quite onto it aligned perfectly with all Labor Party candidates.
Come on, Duncan, how about we reward the organized and
not the hopeless. Yeah, and Mike Hoskin joins, us, I
saw your new car today. It's very low, very not
as low as they come, but it's still very low,
(32:56):
and I'm thinking, I'm thinking, there's got to be an
old man grunt every time you get no.
Speaker 14 (33:04):
I actually pride myself. I had a car and I
won't tell you what it was, but I had a
car that had bucket seats, racing seats. There was a
grunt there because that's hard work. But this has got
standard seats and I just glide in and out in
a really flexible love life.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I've been saying, old man Grant ever since we did
a radio telethon thing and you came down as a
special guest and you've broken your tailbone and you got.
Speaker 14 (33:26):
Off, and I hadn't broken it, but I remember that distinctly.
That was literaly and you chopped up on the seat
and went and we all went, Oh, man Grant. My
brother in law and I were on a scooter. I
was on the back of the scooter in Rome and
he went over. I saw it coming. I saw the
bump on the road coming, and I thought, this is
the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
The passenger always be the driver.
Speaker 14 (33:45):
The passenger exactly right. I can't tell you what Paul
Goldsmith is going to tell us, but there's a thing
coming out today in the justice area.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Why is it a margot?
Speaker 14 (33:54):
I have no idea, so he could come on my
program and reveal it to the world.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Whatever you're talking to, Nichola Willis, I am she is.
I loved your Mike's minute the other day. It was
very good writing.
Speaker 14 (34:05):
Well, I'll ask her about that. And to be honest,
the Ryan who I note has taken a Friday off.
He was defending her, saying she knows, but it was
all the political game.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So yeah, man, you can only do that so many times.
I agree, Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 14 (34:19):
So anyway, she's will us toick.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Have a great weekend. I am not working next week.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to News Talks. It'd be from five am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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